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Öpik commercial building awarded second place at Most Sustainable Building competition

12.06.2018

On May 10, the sustainable and energy-efficient real estate and energy cluster, i.e. the KEN Cluster, announced at its annual conference the winners of the competition “The Most Sustainable Building in Estonia in 2018”. The B-building of the commercial building named after Öpik and built by Merko won the second place at the competition. The architect and designer of the building is Agabus Arhitektid and the developer is Mainor Ülemiste.

What makes Öpik special is the fact that the utility systems have been designed based on the thermal modelling. A screen solution is used on the office floors of the building, which enables the tenant to design their own working area and the utility systems of which take into account the possible different locations of inner walls and room solutions. This way the energy need of the building is reduced and excessive use of materials avoided. To reduce the need for input energy, solar panels have been mounted on top of the roof of the building.

When constructing the Öpik building, an air quality plan was prepared, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) were used and techniques were implemented which restricted the movement of dust during the construction. To guarantee a balanced air quality, the rooms with multiple people include CO2 sensors, which send a timely signal to the utility systems when there is a need for more fresh air.

From the recycling side it is worth mentioning that 75% of the building waste is on the so-called “second round” in the construction of Öpik and a carefully prepared waste plan was followed.

The building, named after professor Ernst Julius Öpik, a pioneer in the Estonian astronomy school, was designed and built in two stages. The A-building of Öpik with LEED Gold certificate was completed in 2016 and the B-building of Öpik, corresponding to LEED Platinum requirements, will be completed this autumn. A gallery connecting the two buildings gives Öpik the status of the largest office building in Estonia.